The Quarantine Tapes 176: Nathalie Etoke

03/26/21 • 30 min

On episode 176 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber is joined by author Nathalie Etoke. Recorded during the time of the historic trials surrounding the death of George Floyd, Nathalie expands on the way that the pandemic has brought into focus many things that were dormant. In this moment of reckoning, Nathalie expertly addresses the truth about what shapes racism, and asks us all to consider what are the consequences of imperialism on our notions of collective human culture.

Paul and Nathalie continue to dig into the challenging questions that explore how to be human in a dehumanized world, and how we experience the fullness of life, in the face of death and disaster. Nathalie also shares a passage from her new book called Shades of Black, soon to be published in April 2021, by Seagull Books, and the pair discuss further ways we create the connection to living with history, and the need to find a way to get along, to live together and share it.
Nathalie Etoke is Associate Professor of Francophone and Africana Studies at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her articles have appeared in Research in African Literatures, French Politics and Culture, Nouvelles Études Francophones, Présence Francophone, the International Journal of Francophone Studies, and the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy.
She is the author of L’Écriture du corps féminin dans la littérature de l’Afrique francophone au sud du Sahara and of Melancholia Africana the Indispensable Overcoming of The Black Condition which won the Frantz Fanon Prize from the Caribbean Philosophical Association. In 2011, she directed Afro Diasporic French Identities, a documentary on race, identity and citizenship in contemporary France.Her upcoming book Shades of Black will be published in April 2021.

Additional links:

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/French/Faculty-Bios/Nathalie-Etoke

https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/03/17/review-of-nathalie-etokes-melancholia-africana/

Credits:

Paul Holdengraber - Co-Creator, Host, OLA Director
Anthony Audi - Co-Creator, Researcher, OLA Director
Alejandro Cohen - Co-Creator, Producer, Composer
Christian Pitt - Production Coordinator
Erin Cooney - Copy, Production
Dublab Team

Additional links:

https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/French/Faculty-Bios/Nathalie-Etoke

https://blog.apaonline.org/2020/03/17/review-of-nathalie-etokes-melancholia-africana/

Credits:

Previous Episode

The Quarantine Tapes: A Symphony Of Voices Part 1

This episode of The Quarantine Tapes is a very special episode bringing together clips from the past one year of the podcast. With these clips, join us in returning to some of the most thoughtful, interesting, and moving moments from this chronicle of our past year in quarantine. We hear from Werner Herzog, Naveen Kishore, and Rosanne Cash on their hopes and fears in the early days of this crisis, and from Patton Oswalt, Joy Harjo, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., and many more over the course of the past year.

These luminous voices speak to the despair of the beginning of the pandemic and look forward with hope to what we might be able to change when we come out of this moment. These clips address the many topics that have been on our minds this past year, from the books that kept us company to the moment the world turned off last March to the reckoning of last summer’s protests. The reflections from our past guests range from moving to funny to heartfelt in this unique look back at one year of The Quarantine Tapes.

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Part 1 Symphony of voices features the following Quarantine Tapes Guests: Pico Iyer, Elif Shafak, Daniel Mendelsohn, Simon Critchley, Julian Sands, Henry Rollins, Lynette Wallworth, Naomi Shihab Nye, Werner Herzog, Maira Kalman, Joy Harjo, Romila Thapar, Lynell George, Sister Judy Vaughn, Naveen Kishore, Rosanne Cash, Baz Dreisinger, Kwame Dawes, Patton Oswalt, Jackie Goldberg, Viet Thanh Ngyuen, Isabella Rossellini, Mona Eltahawy, Howard Bryant,

Next Episode

The Quarantine Tapes: A Symphony Of Voices Part 2

On this episode on The Quarantine Tapes, join us for another very special look back at the highlights of the past one year of episodes. In these clips, we hear from Julie Mehretu, Etgar Keret, and Jerry Saltz on the challenges and fears of the pandemic, and from Jorie Graham, Andy Borowitz, Calvin Trillin, and many more voices on the topics that have been on their minds as they navigated the past twelve months.